Bluebird of Happiness

We've toured further southwest and east in Washington than I've been before, visiting the bird refuges. That Columbia basin was beautiful.

But there are paths right here in the middle, well the north of middle, of the city. Behind the History Museum and between parking lots on the University campus, which I don't think is really as big as, for instance, Northwestern or DePaul.

And on the first one, we saw cormorants. Cormorants at ease, sailing round in the water and feeding at leisure. They crook their necks beautifully as they duck forward into the water, and come up quite a distance from where they go down.

And on the second one, a resident great blue heron was at home. Sitting on a comfy log where I understand he's been sitting all winter. Timelessly cleaning and grooming his blue grey feathers. I've been wishing I could reallly see a blue heron in flight. They stay so still so long. We moved on around, still watching him from the well-traveled path across the little stream of water between us; there was a grassy spot just on our bank where I could stand and only be about seven feet from him, looking happily at those well-groomed restful feathers. And from the west, flying in over water and waving his huge blue wings to a showy landing, there was a second Great Blue Heron! The resident Professor watched the bustle of the arrival, and with great dignity, arose and began pacing steadily from that log, along the log and then behind it walking on the water's edge without a halt and without a hurry, until he got right next to Arrival, and up went everybody's wings, like socking each other's airspace. Arrival went fast back west and there he was, flying very very fast straight back where he came from (towards that first path, across the water). Will the Professor be in residence tomorrow?